﻿﻿So my 16 year old daughter was knocking around in the kitchen and I inquired what she was﻿ making. She said "a potato pie". Thinking its the perfect day for a sweet potato pie, I told her so. She quickly let me know that it was a white potato pie. So not as excited as I started out, I waited. She even made one especially for me without the crust/gluten. It was good! Not as good as our usual sweet potato pie, but come on....it's still pie. The recipe book she used is a 30 year old Southern Living cookbook. It stated:

﻿Lowly ingredients never deterred the Southern cook from having a pie when the family clamored for one. Pies utilizing beans or Irish potatoes sometimes have "Poor Man's...." in the title....﻿

Since we bought our milk cow, we have been overwhelmed by the inquiries on all things DAIRY. I have had many friends and family join me in the butter making process and even more partake of the wonderful products that come from Ella, our beloved Guernsey. I have recently started journaling via photos and videos all that I do with our raw milk. Here is my first creation:

Here are the links to the supplies I use in our raw milk processing:Beverage dispenser >> Click HEREStainless steel spigot >> Click HEREMesh Strainer >> Click HEREMy favorite straining cloths, new diapers >> Click HEREHalf-gallon Ball Jars that we could not do without >> Click HERE

﻿﻿﻿"In 2012, 1,000 calories’ worth of healthy food cost approximately $12, while 1,000 calories of unhealthy food only cost an average $4."I'd be willing to wager on two things:1. This gap is wider now and is going to grow ever wider for the rest of our lives. 2. This study did not consider the cost of products bought directly from farmers but rather "heathy" versus "unhealthy" choices available from grocery stores. ﻿What's interesting from my perspective is that while there has been a consistent and rapid increase in grocery store prices over the past few years, the price of feed has remained perfectly consistent for at least the past two years. At To﻿y Ridge Farms, our prices are a function of our per pound feed costs so the prices we charge our customers have remained flat. -- George﻿﻿﻿Source:http://sorendreier.com/for-many-healthy-foods-are-getting-too-pricey/

Gus was notorious for worrying everything in the pasture. No matter how many corn stalks Youngblood cut and threw over the fence, Gus would always eat on the same cornstalk as some other animal. While doing so, he was incessantly hooking the other animal with his horns. First he'd worry a pony. Next he'd worry a heifer. Next he'd worry a nanny goat. Next he'd be back worrying a pony. Now mind you, this was the same goat I tried to kill because he was so aggressive towards feed that I couldn't even dump scraps over the fence because he would jump up on the fence and intercept the pot. It was during one such moment when I tried to kill him. Momma had sent me to dump scraps over the fence and the fool met me one too many times. He was completely preventing me from being able to dump a pot of scraps. Scraps contained in my momma's good rice pot. The same pot that out of frustration I tried to hit him square in the face with. I swung it like a club. He saw it coming, ducked his head just enough and caught he full force of the blow on the base of one of his horns. The force of the blow caused the handle to snap off. The pot full of scraps went tumbling into the pasture and the fool chased it down and started eating scraps as if such the whole scene had been part of a sinister, master plan. I loathed that damn goat. He aggravated his way into utter domination over every animal in the pasture. Until . . . Youngblood had cut a bunch of corn stalks down and threw them over the fence to feed all the calves, ponies, goats and hogs. Gus was being his usual self, only eating on a stalk or ear that something else was already eating on even though there were plenty of stalks of corn he could have had to himself. First he worried a pony. Then a calf. Then another pony. This went on for a couple weeks. Everything tried to avoid the fool but he was so not to be denied his chief pleasure in life. On the fateful day, Youngblood fed as usual and Gus was acting as usual. Worrying each animal in turn. None escaped his attention. And then he gave his attention to the only animal that ever successfully taught that fool a lesson. We had all walked away and didn't get to see what actually happened next. But when we heard a goat screaming like it was being eaten alive, we all thought, "Something is killing that damned Billy. Yipeee! Let's all go watch!" We ran back to the pasture just in time to see Gus (who was solid white) topping the hill in a full sprint while Maxine stood protectively astride her stalk of corn, with ears flopped over her eyes and a large tuft of white fur extruding from all sides of her mouth. She gave a single grunt that for all the world sounded like, "Hmmmph. Now let that be a lesson to you." And she went back to her stalk of corn without a care in the world. I think it was then that my like of hogs turned to love. Unfortunately the goat didn't die. Unfortunately Gus continued to be an aggravation to everything in the pasture save one animal: Maxine. -- George

For the past two years, George has had our two oldest daughters in "cooking school."

We homeschool and do a lot of cooking so this was a fairly easy task. Our four youngest children can cook eggs or make grilled cheeses, but the 15 and 16 year olds have been in more intensive training; we sometimes call it Culinary Boot Camp.

They have learned much that I will eventually post about, but perhaps the coolest thing they've learned was taught to them by their grandmother - how to make and can jams, jellies and preserves.

Over the course of the growing season, we picked blueberries, figs, plums, pears, and mayhaws. With each harvest, a class would follow. They would take their trusty recipe notebooks and walk over to their grandmother's house. There they would spend the day learning, start-to-finish, how to preserve the harvest.

I know they will cherish these times spent with their grandmother for a lifetime. I love that they are learning an important skill that will follow them for a lifetime and will hopefully be handed down to the next generation. --Melissa

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I am not a doctor and the statements on this blog have not been evaluated by the FDA. Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Some posts on this blog contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission whenever a product is purchased through these links. Toy Ridge Farms is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.